From manufacturing to wine! Yes it is possible. How Sam got from giving up hope, to actually meeting with his dream company

You know how there are things you do every day for work yet there are plenty of things you do every day for fun?

Sometimes you think, wouldn’t it be great to combine the two?

There’s actually good reason to want to.

Psychological research says if you find a job that’s aligned to your strengths, you’ll be more productive. You’ll be promoted more often, and you’ll earn more money.

Sounds great right?

Not so fast.

Most people get stopped at the “this is fantasy stage” right about now, because:

1. It seems too hard. How do you even get considered for a new role or a new sector, when the jobs you see advertised are really specific about having previous experience in that role or sector?
2. You don’t know how to show how your skills are transferable to that new sector
3. You don’t know whom you should contact about a role. Or what you should say when you do

This is exactly the dilemma my client Sam* faced.

Currently a senior executive in supply chain and logistics, he’d spent all his 20+ year career in the manufacturing industry. In that industry he had a wonderful track record of success, making the supply chain more efficient and generating millions in savings.

However he was dispirited.

Outside of work he was a whole other person.

He had an absolute passion for fine wine, food and fashion.

The challenge he faced was that if he wanted to work in the wine industry, he’d need to find a way to bypass the normal recruitment processes.

You know how these advertisements typically read.

You get really excited about how you could do the role until you read the bit that says:

Experience in the wine industry essential

So far things were looking pretty bad.

What was worse for Sam was that within the wine industry he was a nobody.

He had no networks.

He knew nobody at senior levels, let alone any executives who could make a decision about hiring him.

So what did we do to get around these seemingly impenetrable barriers?

Firstly we researched wine companies and the challenges they currently faced in the supply chain and logistics areas.

Then we did an audit of Sam’s skills and mapped this against challenges the companies faced, and found a likely company target.

This particular company was global and home to one of the most sought after wine labels in the world.

Our initial research showed it was expanding into China.

This was a great match with Sam’s background. In a previous role, he had been responsible for relocating part of the business to China, finding new manufacturing plants and cheaper suppliers.

He’d actually generated millions in savings for his employer.

Armed with this knowledge we made them the top target.

We knew there was no point going via HR or internal recruitment employees.

While they’ll say send in your CV, they’re often not good at keeping track of them.

Often they are too busy dealing with the hundreds of applications that come in via advertisements. Because it is so easy to apply for a job, thousands of people typically do, creating a backbreaking backlog of work for many recruitment teams.

Instead we went high and decided to target the Australian CEO himself.

He held the keys to the overall vision and would have a sense of where gaps would be.

Then we decided to do something novel.

Insert big banging thunderous drum roll here.

We decided to send him an old fashioned snail mail letter.

Yes, you read that correctly a letter.

We did this for the novelty value, suspecting that the CEO or his EA would actually open it.

Also, we knew that despite the fact that this company was now global, at heart they cared about bespoke quality.

So a letter seemed much more appropriate than generic email.

I won’t fill up this post with all the detail of the letter, but in it we mentioned how passionate Sam is about wine (and the fact that he was an amateur wine maker), what we knew of the company’s expansion plans, and where we thought these may throw up challenges and opportunities.

We asked for the opportunity to explore where Sam could assist.

We also mentioned how long Sam had been tracking the progress of this company.

And bingo we got an answer.

While Sam did not get to meet the CEO himself, he did send him to meet the person who headed up the area Sam was interested in, beginning a conversation that could lead to something exciting.

There are a few big things to remember here.

There is less than zero chance Sam would be considered for an interview if he went the traditional route.

And there are two BIG reasons he did get a meeting.

1. He asked.
2. He showed with his research how he could assist the company, and while this was not 100% on target it showed a sincerity and passion.

My question to you is what are you going to do this year?

What’s available to you that you’re simply not asking for?

Are you going to go down the route traveled by 90% of the population and wait for recruiters to ignore your application because you do not tick all their boxes?

Are you going to stick with what you know and be stuck because you’ve been pigeon holed?

Or are you going to do something a bit different, like Sam?

If this meeting leads to an offer I can just see the big smile on Sam’s face as he walks into the cellars on his first day tour.

I can almost see him swirling the wine around in his glass.

If you’d like to take control of your job search and apply a method that big data research says is 10 X more effective than applying online that is finding a way to be recommended or referred to a job I invite you to take a look at the Straight to Shortlist Challenge.

This could be your first best step towards tipping your wine glass.

I’m on a mission to help you get 5 meetings with your 5 dream employers in 5 weeks.